IPlayer only in Stereo

[purpleparrotuk]

What's the point of having programmes in UHD in iPlayer when the sound on all iPlayer programmes is only stereo. I'm not sure why they can't be in 5.1 like on Sky Q etc. Do you think this will ever change?

edit: looks like all standard tv channels through stream are only stereo.  

[Exiled-in-HH]

Wouldn't the BBC have to pay Dolby licensing fees to stream anything else?

[Derek_Trotter]

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@purpleparrotuk wrote:

What's the point of having programmes in UHD in iPlayer when the sound on all iPlayer programmes is only stereo. I'm not sure why they can't be in 5.1 like on Sky Q etc. Do you think this will ever change?

edit: looks like all standard tv channels through stream are only stereo.  

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That's a question for the BBC. 

Most movies and many drama series are broadcast with 5.1 on BBC channels via over the air means and via the live channel streams on Glass/Stream. 
To be fair many receivers can upmix stereo to 5.1 from the iPlayer quite effectively. 

[purpleparrotuk]

@Derek_Trotter  it seems that live broadcasts on BBC may be 5.1 on some shows but anything on catchup isn't. Not sure what it's got to do with the BBC. Apple TV and inbuilt apps have 5.1 on catchup so it's a sky thing. 

[Derek_Trotter]

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@purpleparrotuk wrote:

@Derek_Trotter  it seems that live broadcasts on BBC may be 5.1 on some shows but anything on catchup isn't. Not sure what it's got to do with the BBC. Apple TV and inbuilt apps have 5.1 on catchup so it's a sky thing. 

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It's got nothing to do with Sky. All catch up content on iPlayer is in stereo on all platforms, not just Sky. It's therefore up to the BBC to change their audio streaming format, not Sky. 

[Chrisee]

@purpleparrotuk most UK broadcasts do not use surround sound with HD channels carrying Dolby Digital 2.0 audio. True 5.1 and higher audio is provided on movies and big budget productions by Sky and some other broadcasters.  However iPlayer very rarely if ever carries anything but Dolby Digital 2.0 even on UHD titles. Some broadcast programmes can carry surround sound which reverts to 2.0 on the app - IIRC this applied to the proms.

Sky Q does have the true iPlayer app but also carries a BBC catch-up service which Sky hosts to allow downloads for recording where occasionally you may get the surround sound version,

[Exiled-in-HH]

Aren't there different licensing rules for broadcast and streaming?

Legacy rules for broadcasting🤔

[Chrisee]

Not in relation to audio @Exiled-in-HH.AFAIK

IPlayers audio deficencies are widly discussed on line if anyine is interested.its definitely a BBC issue not Sky 

[Exiled-in-HH]

Could well be the reason though😉

Streaming is a peer to peer system?

Broadcasting is peer to many?

Aren't all FTA streaming services stereo?

[Chrisee]

@Exiled-in-HH 🤷‍♂️ audio bandwidth for a DD5.1 signal against DD2.0 is trivial compared to the bandwidth used for video. The BBC does what the BBC does and trying to determine why is pointless ITV are similar. 

[Exiled-in-HH]

That's not the issue ... the issue is licensing fees to Dolby🤔

[trevforum]

iPlayer streams some recent content with PCM 2.0 Total which is 5.1 surround channels "folded" into 2 channels.  Any receiver/soundbar should be able to extract the phase encoded surround channels and the LFE channel via the Dolby Surround/Dolby Pro Logic modes on most modern receivers/amplifiers.  There is a difference between PCM 2.0 stereo and PCM 2.0 Total.